Napoli vs Arsenal: Captain Fantastic Odegaard gives UCL favourites perfect start with Naples win

Arsenal kicked off their 2026/27 Champions League campaign with a comfortable 1-0 victory away to Napoli at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium.

Despite creating a host of good chances, only captain fantastic Martin Odegaard managed to get on the score sheet as the statistical favourites for this season's trophy showed their quality from day one.

The Premier League champions shaded a cautious first half without creating many clear opportunities. Bukayo Saka’s overhead kick was comfortably saved by Alex Meret, while David Raya dealt with long-range efforts from Kevin De Bruyne and Matteo Politano.

Arsenal’s best chance came when Mikel Merino connected with Eberechi Eze’s intelligent knockdown, but his weak header from close range was tipped over by Meret. The Napoli goalkeeper was again called into action when Piero Hincapié’s miscued cross almost looped into the net.

Meret was replaced by Vanja Milinković-Savić at half-time because of injury, but Arsenal initially struggled to break through Napoli’s organised defence. Hincapié missed a golden opportunity shortly after the restart, firing over from six yards as the hosts continued to frustrate their visitors.

Arsenal finally found the breakthrough in the 75th minute. After neat combination play inside the box, Ødegaard found space and fired into the far corner for his fourth goal in five matches.

Napoli failed to respond, leaving new manager Max Allegri facing a third consecutive defeat while Arsenal preserved their 100 per cent record.